St. Viator product Weber caps crazy stretch with Red Stars

A difficult couple of weeks got a little more difficult for Elise Weber in the 11th minute of the Red Stars' 0-0 draw with the expansion Atlanta Beat on Sunday night.

Weber started the season with St. Louis Athletica, then signed with the Red Stars as a free agent Friday after Athletica folded. When left back Natalie Spilger left the game to get stitches after colliding with Atlanta's Mami Yamaguchi, Weber fought off nerves and jumped into the action with her new team.

"I guess the only way to describe it is very crazy," said Weber, an Elk Grove native who played high school soccer at St. Viator. "You know that there's a possibility of being traded or your team folding or whatever, but you never actually think it's going to happen to you until it happens. It was just a crazy week, but I'm glad I'm settled. I'm glad I'm in Chicago. I'm really excited for the rest of the season."

Weber was just one of the new Red Stars faces at Toyota Park. It also was Omid Namazi's first game as coach since taking over for the fired Emma Hayes.

"I could look at it in a disappointing way and say we dropped some points," Namazi said, "but (it was) my first game here. They have have been training under a different regime in different ways, so we're trying to change certain things, especially in our possession game. Be a little bit more patient, stretch the other team sideways and forward and backwards. Create some gaps where we can now attack."

One area Namazi will want to improve is in the attacking third. The Red Stars (2-4-2, 8 points), who have scored just 4 goals this season, outshot Atlanta 16-5 but struggled to test new Atlanta goalkeeper Hope Solo, Weber's former St. Louis teammate, who made 8 saves to preserve the shutout.